Eco-commune movement in Russia

Russia: Beyond the Headlines, an international newspaper focused on Russian news, politics and culture, recently posted an article on the growth of homesteading communities, referred to as “eco-communes” in rural Russia.

Thousands of Russian professionals have lost hope for a better life in cities. They have taken to the forests to create their own utopias independent of the state. The eco movement has increased several fold in recent years. Some have found harmony, others feel disillusioned…

New communities of homesteaders have sprung up across some of the most remote sections of Russia in the past decade, including Siberia, attracting thousands of Russians in search of a simple, self-sufficient and environmentally friendly lifestyle free from state control and big city corruption.

The number of “eco-communes,” as they are called in Russia, has grown dramatically in the last decade, and the movement back to the land is drawing professionals weary of the country’s corruption, pollution and new consumerism.